


you can always find me in the drift

by thebetterbina



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Pacific Rim Fusion, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, I Made Myself Cry, Jaeger Pilots, Jaegers (Pacific Rim), Kaiju (Pacific Rim), M/M, The Drift (Pacific Rim), cedric dies in this one folks, congratulations i played myself, if you squint really hard theres some porn in there, rated m for some horny
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-29
Updated: 2020-03-29
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:48:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23371942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebetterbina/pseuds/thebetterbina
Summary: Harry never talks about Cedric.Harry never talks about how sometimes, he can still feel the linger of Cedric, on him,inhim―even when it’s Tom whispering reverence in his ear.Self-gratitious Pacific Rim AU for tomarry with a side of angsty hedric.
Relationships: (past), Cedric Diggory/Harry Potter, Harry Potter/Tom Riddle | Voldemort
Comments: 5
Kudos: 96





	you can always find me in the drift

**Author's Note:**

> beta done by my wife, [liz ♡](https://twitter.com/lizardayo)

_ He remembers Cedric’s last words like they were yesterday. _

_ “If you’re ever lost, you can always find me in the drift.” _

* * *

Harry likes nothing about Tom, not his voice, his face, doesn’t even like it when Tom tries to be civil when they’re partnered together. The offered hand from the other boy Harry just slaps away with a scowl, spitting threats like venom, wrenching out of the grip Albus has on his shoulder even when the old man looks sad―apologetic even. Yet somehow that infuriates Harry even more.

Logically, he knows good Rangers,  _ talented _ Rangers are rare. Scarce and sought out, paired up immediately and trained for battle. That was him and Cedric, they’d started the programme together, both wide-eyed recruits in front of the towering Jaegers that shadowed them. It was  _ their _ thing.

“Look,” Tom corners him after dinner one night, voice tight and face unreadable. “I don’t know what you have against me, and frankly I don’t care. We do the training, and I won’t bother you outside of it.”

Harry bites his lips, he knows Albus won’t let him go. Not with the war still ongoing, and every hand is needed on deck. Harry nods, “Fine.”

* * *

_ They’re alone together, bodies squeezed into one bunk. Hands links, two voices low whispers in the dark. _

_ “What did you want to be before,” Harry waves a hand around. “All this.” _

_ Cedric smiles, laughing softly, “You wouldn’t believe me, but I actually wanted to be a teacher.” _

_ “A teacher.” Harry breaths, mimicking the grin. “No, I can see it.” _

* * *

He slips into Tom’s mind easy as water, wading through the memories. There are flashes of what looks like a church, children running around. Then it flickers over to his own, a warm home with two loving parents. 

A memory of Cedric flashes, an echo of the past. Harry doesn’t chase the rabbit.

“Neural handshake strong and steady, give me your status boys.” Hermione’s voice sounds chipper over the comms, giving a reading of their steadying percentage.

“Left hemisphere, stable.”

“Right hemisphere, stable.”

* * *

_ First Dawn, in her scarlet and bright reds, was the most beautiful Jaeger Harry had ever met. She was European made, one of the few Mark-5’s to exist, moved faster than the older models and packed a punch. Cedric made jokes about how similar she was to Harry, tiny terrors with compressed bodies of pure rage.  _

_ Harry used to hit him for it, reminding him he was her pilot too. _

* * *

Their first kill is a disgusting Category III, Clawhook, off the coast of San Diego. 

First Dawn has the speed to avoid most of the talon swings, long, lengthy things that rake down her body when it finally comes into contact with her. They don’t bark orders at each other, Harry and Tom move in tandem, unspeaking except solely to give updates over their comms. The plasma blade sinks into the Kaijus back, and from there all it takes is a little more effort to drag the blade downwards―bathing them in a spray of blue gunk as the creature’s body plunges into the dark waters, limp and unmoving. 

They don’t say anything after the kill, but the soft hum of satisfaction over the bond is shared by Harry’s own. 

* * *

_ It was their first Category IV, Leatherback. _

_ It moved slow, predatory, and Harry remembers blaming himself for how confident they felt. They were riding on a streak. Just another Kaiju to be killed.  _

_ It was his mistake. _

_ He still remembers screaming himself hoarse as the creature tore into Dawn’s head. He remembers the teeth, the stench of acid, watching Cedric ripped away from the controls and gone in a swallow.  _

_ He remembers the hollow emptiness that followed. _

* * *

“We’re good for each other,” Tom says, heated. Pushing Harry into the bed and pressing them close, mouthing along the column of his neck while Harry moans. He bucks up, desperate, starved for any kind of touch Tom will offer.

“We’re good for each other,” Tom says, like a fact, and Harry can’t deny how they slot together perfectly like puzzle pieces. How easily their minds meld, merge, creating another person when they drift together. It was its own intoxication.

Harry never talks about Cedric.

Harry never talks about how sometimes, he can still feel the linger of Cedric, on him,  _ in _ him―even when it’s Tom whispering reverence in his ear.

* * *

_ “If you’re ever lost, you can always find me in the drift.” _

_ Cedric had said the words with so much finality Harry hadn’t known what to do except scream, scream bloody murder as he felt a portion of his very soul tear when their bond was broken so suddenly. _

_ He can’t hear Cedric in the drift anymore, his presence just a faint linger. He supposes they called it ghost drifting for a reason―pilots living in the consciousness of their dead partners. _

* * *

Tom can never replace the space where Cedric lived, close to his heart and always a lingering touch away.

But Tom does  _ add _ to it.

* * *

The news of the Rift closing is a celebration on its own. 

It’s bittersweet, a hope for the healing to come, and a mourning in itself for all the lives lost. There’s uncertainty there too, for Rangers like Harry and Tom who’d practically been brought up in the warzone of Kaijus, who’d never gone a day knowing what peace was. 

Their hands are linked, looking over the Shatterdome, the crashing waves, the cheering city behind them. 

“What will you do after this?” Tom asks, soft, curious. Harry leans back into him, the warmth of Tom’s body a new personal comfort to him.

“I want to be a teacher.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm active [on my Twitter](https://twitter.com/therealconnor60)! (´,,•ω•,,)♡
> 
> maybe one day ill have the motivation to make this a full fic


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